Terrorist turned housewife sentenced in 1975 bomb plot

CBC News/January 18, 2002

Los Angeles -- A woman who lived a quiet suburban life in Minnesota for more than 20 years, was sent to prison for 10 years to life on Friday, for her part in a 1975 bomb plot conspiracy.

Sarah Jane Olson was a member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army in the mid-1970s when the group conspired to blow up Los Angeles police cars to avenge the deaths of six SLA members who were killed in a shootout with police the year before.

Olson said she was "truly sorry" for causing anyone any pain, but denied the prosecution's allegations that she tried to murder police officers by planting the bombs under two police cruisers. The bombs failed to explode.

Olson's arrest in 1999 made headlines around the world. She was discovered hiding out in plain sight in Minnesota. She had changed her name from Karen Soliah, married a doctor and had three children. Olson was a community activist and member of a community theatre group.

As soon as she was sentenced, Olson entered a plea of innocent on new charges of robbery and murder involving a 1975 bank robbery in Carmichael, California. In that robbery a bystander, Myrna Opsahl was killed.

Four other former SLA members are also charged in connection with the Carmichael robbery.

The SLA rose to international prominence when it kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974. Hearst later joined the group and took part in robbing banks.

Hearst may be a witness for the prosecution in the Carmichael case.